She didn’t really have a busy day, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t need her sleep. Thankfully it was her day off, so Riley wasn’t too worried. The club had been packed and it had taken a lot out of her. Stepping outside, into the chilly Gotham air, she cursed herself for not bringing a warmer coat. Also, she probably could have worn a longer dress than the black and gray bandage dress that she’d chosen as her attire to go out for a night on the town. But Barry had broken up with Jessica and her best friend had needed her there, so she hadn’t given much thought to what she had worn when she’d stepped out earlier in the night. All things considered though, she was more than willing to get home, peel out of this dress and into much more comfortable attire and snuggle under some blankets. Rex would wake up and her little puppy would keep her company and help keep the bed warm.

Another reminder that she was single.

A boyfriend would have been nice. And he would have been able to get her a damn cab, which, it seemed, was impossible this night. With a curse that didn’t have much heat behind it, she started her walk. When Jessica had picked the club, she’d picked one that was relatively close to the two apartments that each lived in. So she only had a ten block walk to get back to the high rise that she called home. Her heels clicked on the sidewalk as she moved.

Gotham City was an interesting place. It was huge, literally. The city had streets upon streets, buildings upon buildings. Stories upon stories. In more meanings of the word than one. Riley Jameson worked in one of the big buildings. She was an office assistant, a glorified secretary to a big corporation. She didn’t mind it though, it was a job and in this economy, you took what you got. So what she’d graduated pretty highly from Gotham University? It didn’t matter, all that mattered was the resume, and she hadn’t had much work experience. So for what it was worth, she liked her job. On the side, she plied her trade in the blogosphere, writing articles for various tech websites.

It paid her a decent sum and it augmented her salary at Smith-Barney Co. Also, it helped her put her actual degree, computer science, to work, as she searched for a job that actually was, you know, connected to what she was trying to do. Pulling out her phone, she checked the messages. Well, to say that she was single was kind of a lie. There was a guy who was interested in her, but she just wasn’t that interested in him. They’d gone out a few times, for things like coffee or lunch, but he just hadn’t captured her interest. Looking up, to see what street she was on, she made a mistake far more serious than not taking a heavier coat.

She let her foot fall into a grate on the street, and her heel snapped.

With a curse that had actual heat behind it, she looked down, giving the man just enough time to strike.

He’d been following her for two blocks now and she hadn’t seen him, and he had been biding his time well. Dragging Riley into an alleyway, his hand muffled her startled scream. She felt the chilly night air that much more as he ripped her coat off of her and she was then shoved roughly to the ground. Her eyes were dazed, from the impact of her head on the cold ground and she looked up, trying to figure out what was going on. But she couldn’t tell what was going on. She vaguely made out the man going through her purse, and the pockets of her coat. As she realized that she was in the process of being mugged, her first thought was that it was just money and that there was nothing that was that vital in her purse. Apparently, there was though, to someone else.

Because while she didn’t see, Riley did hear a loud thud. She struggled into an upright position and her eyes widened at what she saw.

The Batman.

He was here, in the alley, and he was looking down at the would be mugger. The mugger was unconscious and Batman was in the process of zip-tying the man up. Then he paused and looked over his shoulder at her.

“You should really be more careful when you’re out late at night.” He said.

She gave a start as he fired his grappling gun, and then he was gone, into the darkness that was Gotham City.

“No, you have to get to bed. It’s a school night. If your mother comes home and finds you up watching TV, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Aww. ‘Kay.” Julio said, and got up from his spot on the couch, turning the television off. Miguel Hernandez was eternally grateful that his son was a good sport about a lot of things. He never seemed to get upset when he was told that he couldn’t have something or that he needed to wait a while longer in order to get a new toy. He just took it all in stride and kept it moving. Wiser than most of the kids his age, and Miguel was thankful for it.
He was sitting at the kitchen table, looking at the bank statements and the various bills that they had to pay that month. Stretched thin, the Hernandez household was struggling, that much was easy to see. Somehow they’d have to make it all work. How, he wasn’t sure, but he was trying to take more shifts at the factory to see if he could make some extra money. Nina’s job was giving her more hours too, so they’d try to make it work. The only problem was that then there was no one to look after Julio when he got back from school. The kid’s homework and grades hadn’t suffered for it, so far, as far as Miguel could tell.

Every month, he made sure to take an extra two hundred out of his paycheck and put it into a special bank account. The bank account was linked to a brokerage account that bought various stocks. Julio’s college fund. Because his son was going to go to college and better himself. He was going to be far more successful than his father was, that was something that Miguel was going to make damned sure of.

Julio came up to him and gave his dad a hug goodnight. He knew to brush his teeth, and he’d probably spend another half an hour or so reading one of his books up in his room. Kid loved to read. Loved that more than toys, and Miguel had found this little bookstore that had good prices. He’d seen a copy of the Swiss Family Robinson, and he was thinking of buying it for his son, so that Julio would have a new book to read. So absorbed in his thoughts, he didn’t notice the front door being shimmied until it was too late. Turning in his chair, his eyes widened as two men in masks entered his home. Julio, who had been climbing the stairs, froze in fear.

“Dad!” He yelled out as the alarm system started to go off, a moment too late. Julio watched as his father bolted upwards from the chair, but one of the men entering the house slammed a pipe or something into the side of his father’s head. Julio watched his father crumple to the ground. As Miguel collapsed, his son dropped down on the stairs, sitting on them, and watching, tears streaming down his face as he did.

The robbers were silent as they moved through the house, taking what they wanted. A few minutes had passed, and then they stood in the front room, surveying everything. Julio was crouched by his father, trying to get him to wake up. One of the robbers took a menacing step towards him.

“Hey, he’s a kid.”

“I don’t give a shit.”

“Well I do. Let’s go.”

The two turned and started to walk out. Except that suddenly the lead one was thrown backwards and he landed on the ground. It was the robbers’ turn to freeze in fear, as the man who had restarted the urban legend of Gotham was here, in the Hernandez home. Dressed as a bat, the man didn’t waste time, immediately moving forward.

Julio watched as the Batman dispatched the would be robbers, making short work of them. When all was said and done, a lifetime had passed in the boy’s eyes, but it had only been a few moments. Miguel struggled to his knees, his eyes blurry. But they found focus when they saw the man standing in the room, surveying the damage that had been done to the robbers.

“Th-thank you.” He stammered out, as he looked at the Batman.

The man dressed in black simply nodded and turned, leaving as he had come. A few moments later, they could hear the sirens in the distance.

Jennifer kept her hands within the confines of her pockets as the rain poured down upon her figured, a heavy sigh escaping her lips as her hair began to mat down against her fair skin. She watched as people began to scatter different directions to avoid getting wet, the sounds of laughter and even cries of surprise at the sudden downpour of rain. Her shoulders hunched inwards as she brought her arms in closer to her body, tucking her chin down into her overcoat.

The streets fell silent; the eerie yellow glow of the street lamps illuminated the sidewalk and reflected off the pools of murky water flowing into the sewer drains. The silence caused her to shiver briefly, or maybe it was the quickly cooling temperatures that were coming along with the rain.

It didn’t matter…she needed to get off the street.

There was a sound that caught her attention behind her, causing her to turn briefly, keeping her chin tucked down into her coat as she peered into the darkness behind her. Her vision was not only obscured by the rain but by the darkness as well.

It was that darkness that caught her off-guard as she turned back around to face not just one, but two men that had been part of a group that was following her. The man directly infront of her was taller than the other to his left, smelly as well, despite the rain and had a horrid toothless grin. His clothing was a bit tattered but in decent condition, no doubt just some common street thug looking for a quick score.

“Where you headed?” The taller man said as he pressed forward causing Jennifer to take a few steps back, her hands remained within her pockets as she glanced from the taller man to the shorter one, a smile creeping up on her lips as she responded.

“Most certainly…not with you…” She said with a little bit of a smartass tone. The taller man frowned as he brought his hand up quickly and down towards her face and without warning her right hand came out of her pocket to catch his wrist. “Now..now..” She said through gritted teeth. “Didn’t your mother tell you it wasn’t nice to hit ladies?” She shoved his hand back causing him to stumble briefly.

The taller man didn’t let this little mishap cause him to stop, instead he came charging at her, fists swinging wildly. Jennifer easily stepped back, moving left and right, dodging each blow without hesitation. Her right and now left hand smacking down his wrists creating a forward momentum that made him stumble forward and into the cement.

He smashed into the cement hard with a grunt and a loud yell causing the shorter man to begin his assault. The shorter man brought a wooden plank around from the left, causing Jennifer to duck under it and bring both fists up and into his sternum, making him not only drop the plank but fold in. As he folded in, she came up with her right fist and made solid contact with his chin, sending him up briefly in the air and onto his back.

The shorter man hit the ground with a hard thud, letting out a whoosh of air as he did, water splashing up from the puddle on the ground. Jennifer took a deep breath in and let it out as she went to turn to face the taller man who she thought was laying on the ground, only to be smacked in the face with the same wooden plank the shorter man had moments before.

The blow was hard enough to send her stumbling to the side and into the brick wall. Her vision blurred and reddened slightly as she fell backwards and hit her head against the side-walk. She could feel the warmth of her own blood drip down her face and mix with the cool rain as her vision continued to sway back and forth from side to side.

She could barely make out the voices of the two men standing over her; the ringing in her ears was enough to make her cringe. She could feel her left leg being picked up, followed by her right, her body being dragged towards the darkness by the thugs. She struggled against the swaying vision and tried valiantly with what little strength she could muster, she flipped over and jerked her legs free. She clawed at the cement, splattering not only murky water in her face but blood as she made every attempt to get free.

Their laughter soon became clear as the ringing went away, and her vision settled down as she continued to maneuver as fast as she could away from them, pulling herself across the sidewalk towards a dimly lit business door. She went to open her mouth to cry out, only to have a hand come across her mouth and muffle her voice, two hands grabbing her legs as they began to drag her once more. The shorter man lifting her upper body up off the ground, keeping his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet, looking around for signs of any people looking before looking down at her.

“This will be quick, we promise…we weren’t going to hurt you, but now…”

They continued to carry her body towards the dark alley, watching as cars drove by. She made every attempt to wiggle free, kicking and lashing out with her arms. Finally, she bit down on the hand covering her mouth, catching enough skin to cause him to let go and holler in pain. That minor distraction caused the taller man to flinch and loosen his grip, just enough for her to free her right foot and kick him in the back of the head and send him forward. As soon as they both let go, her body hit the ground and the air rushed from her lungs, but despite being nearly breathless, she let out a ragged yelp followed by a deep inhale and a final scream.

“HELP!”

She quickly clambered to her feet, stumbling forward as she ran towards the dimly lit business. Her hands banging on the door, screaming at the top of her lungs. The sounds of her screams and yelling seemed to be drowned out by the sound of the pouring rain, but it didn’t matter, she would make every attempt to get someone’s attention.

And then it hit her, her cell phone!

Her hands fumbled inside of her jacket pockets, feeling for the device as she pulled it out, a free hand coming up to brush the wet strands of hair from her face, blinking away blood soaked tears.

She managed to press “911” and send before a loud crashing noise was heard and an abrupt pain overcame her, followed by the sensation of falling. Her vision was filled with a bright white light..and then darkness. Jennifer’s body hit the cement apparently lifelessly as the taller man stood over her with the wooden plank, broken in half and bloodied. He tossed it down next to the girl and then spit on her.

“Stupid bitch.” He said as he picked up her cell phone and yelled into it over the rain “Wrong number!” He hit end quickly and threw it out into the street, grumbling as he turned back to the girl’s body.

James Conroy and Troy Walters were two Gotham City police officers driving around on their normal beat when the call came through. Immediately, they started speeding through Gotham City traffic. Conroy ignored an irate driver next to them, saying something about abuse of power and that he was going to write down their license number and report them. The last thing he heard was the guy cursing because he wasn’t wearing his glasses and wasn’t able to read their license number in time. It didn’t bother him, he knew what he was doing and that he needed to respond to the call. Things like this happened in Gotham City, even with the Batman. If the police didn’t respond to them in time, who knew what could happen?

The police cruiser moved through a stoplight like it was nothing and then made a sharp right turn, coming up on the street where the call had been placed. They were in one of the many districts that made up Gotham City, and this one was a little more industrial than downtown. A large building was the closest approximation of the call, and they parked the car in front of it. Getting out of the vehicle, the two officers drew their standard issue sidearms and looked at each other.

It had been close to the end of their shift when the call had come through. Back up was on the way, and they were going in. Entering the building, the two police officers fanned out, looking for something amiss. An old office building, it was a two story building that had seen better days. They were about to head up the stairs when a shot rang out.

“What the hell are the cops doing here?” A voice asked, as the two ducked for cover.

“No idea. I think the girl called 911.”

“Son of a bitch. You said we were going to just grab her and make for it.” The first voice said.

“Well, shit happens.”

More bullets started to fly.

“You ready?” James asked his partner. Trevor nodded and the two popped up, opening fire with their pistols. James missed, but Trevor caught one of the guys who was shooting at them in the shoulder, knocking him down. James used this as a diversion to move around a few desks and cubicles and come around them. The other guy turned and opened fire but James was fast enough to evade. He fired back, kneecapping the would be assailant. Moving forward, he kicked the man’s pistol away from him. But then he looked up just in time to get tackled by the one with the bullet in his shoulder.

“Got up fast.” He managed to say through gritted teeth as he rolled on the ground.

Trevor came around, his pistol up. “Hands up. Drop the weapon.” He said.

The guy with the bullet in his shoulder just sighed, cursing. He dropped his pistol and held his hands up. “Fucking hell.” he said. "This was supposed to be something easy. We weren't supposed to be pinched. We're fucked." He said, as James walked towards him.

“Got that right.” James said, grabbing handcuffs for the two men.

A few moments later, the two police officers were moving up the stairs. When they got to the second floor, they had to duck back inside the stairwell, because there was a shot that rang out.

“I’ll kill her.”

Trevor peered around the corner and then stepped out. James followed, and the two cops had their pistols trained on the other man in the room. He had Jennifer in front of him, like a human shield. He had his pistol pointed at her head and it was pressed up against her temple. Cold steel to warm flesh.

“I’ll kill her.” He repeated.

Trevor was about to speak, when Jennifer acted. She elbowed her kidnapped in the gut and then turned, wrenching free of his grasp. He turned the gun towards the cops, but they were faster, shooting him twice in the chest. James looked at the woman who had fallen to the floor, staring at the man who had two smoking holes in his chest.

Jennifer nodded to James, her hand coming up to touch the wound on the side of her face. Dried up blood flaked away as she brought her fingers down and rubbed them together, smearing the dark red liquid together between her fingertips. A heavy sigh escaped her lips her left hand came up to brace against the wall, slowly rising up with the help of James.

“Ma’am, you need to go to the hospital...” He said with a concerned voice as he leaned down and looked at her face. James’ hand came up and rested on her shoulder, causing Jennifer to look up and give him a solemn nod.
James raised an eyebrow at the young girl, trying to figure out why she looked familiar. “What’s your name?” He asked as he reached up with a free hand and pressed the button on his shoulder radio.

“Dispatch, this is 237…” The sound of a female voice on the other end could be heard responding. James hit the button again. “Roger, Dispatch, 237, requesting a 10-54-I from the 10-34 reported earlier, over.” More chatter over the radio before James responded. “10-4, need 10-85s at my 20 as soon as possible.” He paused for a moment. “10-87 to Gotham General with victim.”

He let go of the radio and placed his other hand on her shoulder and brought her close. “Come on, we’re going to get you taken care of.” He smiled at her. “You mind telling me some information on the way?”

Jennifer nodded softly as they made their way downstairs, the sound of hustling cops could be heard and shouting as they brushed passed. Sirens filled the air of the night as the rain began to clear up, an ambulance came speeding up to the scene and stopped in front of the building where they were standing.

Her injuries weren’t severe, but they weren’t nothing either. Especially since she’d protested going to the hospital. After the ambulance patched her up, she’d been asked to sit in the back of James and Trevor’s police car. As they drove, it didn’t take her that long to realize that they were not going to the station of this precinct. Matter of fact, they were going somewhere else entirely. A much longer drive. When she saw the building, she sighed.

“Why are we going to the MCU?” She asked.

He wasn't surprised that she knew what building they were coming up towards. It made sense. “Special request.” James said. “I don’t make the decisions, I just listen to them.”

“I’m sure that’s working out swimmingly for you.” She said and he smiled.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Joel held the phone away from his ear for a moment. His wife wasn’t yelling exactly, neither was she hysterical, but at that precise second, he didn’t need her to be that loud or that dramatic. Their daughter was fine. Well, his stepdaughter. Cindy’s daughter to be more precise. He opened the door to his office and stepped outside. He wasn’t that young of a guy anymore, but he could still move with the best of them. He’d saved Santieri’s ass a few times. Earned him a casserole once from Eva. Unfortunately he’d made the mistake of taking it home. Cindy had been rather upset that she couldn’t make a casserole like Eva could, but it seemed like there was a reason for that.

There were mutants and superheroes in the world again. Eva Rodriguez’s power was making the greatest food on planet earth. Santieri was a lucky bastard.

As he thought of the devil, the man himself appeared. Looking more tired than usual. Probably the Morricone situation. “What’s the word?” Steven asked, falling into step with his older friend.

“She’s alright, just banged up a little bit. I just got off the phone with Cindy.” Joel said.

Steven winced. “Yeah, mothers never take it the right way. My mother always fussed whenever I got into a scrape.”

“You took getting into a scrapes to a whole new level, kid.” Joel said. “Your father used to tell me stories about that when I was a rookie.” He added. “Army didn’t help you.”

“Once an eleven bang bang.” Steven replied.

“Always.” The fellow former Army infantry man said. “Jen isn’t going to be pleased I brought her to the MCU.” He said.

“Probably not, but we did background checks on the guys who attacked her. They’re linked to Morricone.” Steven said, knowing that it was going to open a can of worms. The last thing he wanted to do was rattle Irskens even more. “So we need to get a good statement for her.”

“Morricone? That son of a bitch. Look, I want to go after him. I’ve been telling you and this is-”

“I know what it could be, not what it is. For all we know she just looked appealing.” Steven said, holding a hand up to stop Irskens. “Don’t go running around all half cocked, okay? Please.”

The other man stopped and gave his friend a look. “You’re really going to tell me that after what happened with you and Eva? You ran around a little half cocked for a few months there. You were itching to punch Francesco Vitale in the face.”

“But I didn’t do it. Vitale was on trial at the time. Giovanni Morricone is not.” Steven said. “Let us do what we need to do.”

Irskens sighed, thinking about it. On the one hand, he knew where Morricone lived. He could easily go and punch the guy in the face. On the other hand, in his gut, he knew that Steven was right. There was no proof that Morricone had done this on purpose or that his men had. They needed to actually do the research and put the pieces together to find out if that was the case. “If we find out it’s Morricone on purpose?” He asked.

“I’ll drive you to his house so you can punch him in the face.” Steven said.

“Deal.”

Steven smiled and then walked away. “Take care of your daughter. I’ll take care of the rest.” He said.

Joel walked into the interview room where Jennifer was, and his thoughts of listening to Steven shook a great deal. “Hey honey.” He said, and walked over to where she was, crouching next to her. “I know it’s a stupid question to ask, but how are you doing?” He asked.

Jennifer held the bag of ice over her right eye, a sigh escaping her lips as she turned and looked at him with her good eye and then back to the bland white wall. "I'm fine..." She said with a disappointed tone, a frown coming to her features as she adjusted herself in the confines of the chair before removing the bag of ice and placing it on the table. Her eye was nearly swollen shut, blackened and purpled up from the assault. The side of her face had a nice abrasion as well, but overall, it could have been worse.

"You should have called home for a ride..." Joel said as he sat down in the chair next to her, placing a file on the table.

Jennifer couldn't help but roll her eyes, despite the pain it caused. "I didn't have a choice Dad, it's late and last I checked you were working..."

Joel cut her off with a raised hand. "That doesn't mean I couldn't have sent someone to pick you up..."

Jennifer growled slightly and hit a hand on the metal table, causing a loud bang to echo through the interview room. "I'm not thirteen anymore, I don't need rides home anymore Dad!" She pushed up from the table roughly, the groaning sound of metal grinding against the concrete floor emanated throughout the room as she made her way towards the door.

"Jen, wait..." Joel said as he turned

Jennifer stopped in mid-motion and turned back to Joel, her arms coming up to cross her chest. She did her best to give him a disgruntled look, her face twitching slightly from the pain in her eye. "What?"

Joel offered her a slight smile and motioned. "I just need to ask you a few questions, just come sit down with me and then you can go home, I promise."

It wasn't the most pleasant of experiences for Joel, probably even less so for his stepdaughter, having to recount everything that happened. He made a mental note to buy Conroy and Walters a few rounds the next time they were at a bar. Considering he'd never really met either of them before, that was going to be a feat, but you didn't save a man's daughter without some kind of reward. Sitting back in the chair, he wished he had Steven's dedication to not being bothered by his fiance's wishes for him to quit smoking. Cindy had laid down that ruling a while ago, and he'd listened to her. Because he loved his wife. Also Jen, who had been a bit younger at the time, had followed him around for a week or two calling him Smokey the bear.

The bear part had been cool.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"I'm going to ask him."

"You've got to be kidding me." Trevor said in response to his partner's words.

"I'm serious." James said. "I put in the request to join the MCU a few months ago, and I never heard word. We're here, in the MCU, and Santieri's office isn't that far away. Besides, the both of us look pretty good right ow, so if he had any doubts back then, maybe this will change his mind." He said.

"You're crazy, bro, but go for it. I'll be here." Trevor said, leaning back in the chair that he was seated in. The two of them were parked outside of the interview room where Jennifer Gray and her stepfather, Joel Irskens were. He watched as his partner rose and left heading into another part of the MCU building.

James Conroy was a twenty four year old police officer. Only been on the force a few years, but he'd distinguished himself alright, with a very high rate of successful arrests. When he'd been used by a task force to be added boots on the ground, he'd also done very well and had a number of recommendations. But for some reason he was turned down whenever he tried to go out to be a detective or to actually join a task force. He'd never gotten a clear answer on that, but today that was going to change. Santieri may have been the guy who had delivered the biggest Mafia boss in the history of Gotham City, but Conroy wasn't scared of him. He knocked on the door of Santieri's office and stood in the doorway. The boss of the MCU was putting away his cell phone, probably having just been on the phone with someone.

Probably that smoking hot Brazilian lady he was engaged to.

"Officer Conroy, right?" Steven said. "What can I do for you?" He asked.

"I was wondering if I could ask you a question."

"Interestingly enough you just did. What's up?"

"A few months ago, I applied-"

"To join the MCU. I know. I review all the applicants. Time consuming process. You scored very well on your tests and your marksmanship is really good." Steven said. He lit up another cigarette. "I've heard good things about you, kid." He said.

"So then how come I can never get a transfer anywhere? Don't get me wrong, I like my precinct, but I want to really...do something." He said.

"You are doing something. You will do more." Steven looked out and saw Jennifer and Joel step out of the interview room. He smiled a little. "Tell you what. You want to join the MCU? I'll add you on a probationary basis." He looked the young man dead in the face. "Your first job is going to be shadowing her, everywhere she goes." He said. "She was attacked by Giovanni Morricone's men. It may be more than just she's an attractive girl. If it is, they may do something again. Your job is to make sure that she's followed and that nothing happens."

The glowing street lights of Gotham caused her to wince a little as they passed by the rear passenger window of the police vehicle. Her hands rested in her lap as she remained deep in thought, her focus on the attack earlier in the night. For the most part, revisiting it didn’t bother her, but the reasons behind it did.

Her one good eye focused as they came to a stop infront of her house, a worried woman standing in the lit doorway, clutching a tissue it appeared and something else. Jennifer groaned as James exited the vehicle and came around to her side, he opened the door to let her out, a smile on his face as he nodded. “Have a good night.”

“Yeah…” She replied, giving him a brief look before turning back to her mother standing in the doorway. “It’s going to be a long annoying night, nowhere near the word good…”

James chuckled as he closed the door and tipped his hat slightly, Jennifer cautiously walked up the stairs towards her mother, her left hand slowly rising up to keep her from talking while her right clutched her side. “Don’t say a word..”
“I have every right to say something young lady!” The older woman said roughly as Jennifer passed by her, closing the door harshly behind her. “Do you realize what could have happened!?”

“Nothing happened…” Jennifer replied as she kicked her shoes off and moved slowly towards the stairs, her left hand clutching the railing as she made her way up the stairs slowly. “Dad seemed to handle it well..”

Cindy stomped her foot in defiance and anger. “Your father is just as upset as I am, look at you! You let some thugs beat you up and almost rape you!” She cried out. “They could have killed you!”

Jennifer grumbled as she made it to the top with a heavy sigh. “But they didn’t, stop lecturing me…and yes..” She turned to look at her mother, her eye remaining closed. “I’m fine, thanks for asking.” The sound of feet shuffling could be heard for a brief moment before the sound of a door slamming rather loudly.

The annoying buzzing sound of her alarm caused her to stir briefly, the rumbling noise in her head made her groan as she rolled over into the sticky pool of semi-dried blood. For a moment, she forgot what had happened the night before and then it hit her like a ton of bricks, not just the pain of course. With a loud groan and a few stifled cries, she managed to sit herself upright in bed, her right hand coming down to rest upon her ribcage.

Despite the extent of the injuries, she could have been worse...

Far worse...

Her free hand reached for the remote, grasping it loosely as she flipped on the TV, slowly moving through channels before stopping on a news station. It took a few moments to gather herself up as well as her thoughts as the broadcaster eagerly spoke of how Isaiah Muir was about to make a presser. Jennifer rolled her eyes as she stepped into the bathroom carefully, a hand grasping the doorframe for a moment before she was able to get herself inside and begin getting ready for the day.

It took some time, but she managed. Sore muscles and bruises would heal within a few days and a few weeks from now she would be close enough to her normal self as one could be. The sound of older women laughing and joking could be heard as she made her way down the stairs, a few older men were in the kitchen, obviously discussing something else. Jennifer grimaced as the stairs groaned just as she hit the last step, although the women continued to gossip and laugh, the men seemed to stop in their conversation. She turned around the banister and took a step towards the door, grabbing her jacket up and stopping in mid-stride as the presence behind her made itself know.

“And where do we think we’re going?” Joel said in a scruffy voice, leaning against the banister.

Jennifer sighed and pulled her jacket about herself, despite the pain it took to do so. “Out for a stroll.” She turned briefly, not allowing him to see the more hurt side of her face. “I promise I won’t be long..”

Joel made a strange noise, a sound between a grumble and what one might consider a pressured sigh before resting both hands upon Jennifer’s shoulders. “You’re a fighter and you’re tough as nails..” He said as he gently turned her to face him. “But you have to understand that you have weaknesses too..” He looked her sternly in the face. “Promise me you’ll let this one go...”

Jennifer did her best to raise an eyebrow, and went to object before Joel cut her off. “Promise..”

Reluctantly she agreed before Joel kissed her forehead gently and patted her on the back. “Make sure you check in every once and a while, alright?”

“Alright, Dad.” She said quietly, turning and walking out the door.

-An Hour Later-

Jennifer sat at the corner coffee shop a few blocks down from her house, looking down at the newspaper infront of her. Nothing about what happened to her made any sense, why was her father so interested in the first place?
This was Gotham and she was the daughter of a police officer in the MCU, nothing was cut and dry.

James Conroy had not had any real sleep in the past few days. First it had been working the beat, and that always could drain you. This was his first real day of watching Jennifer Ann Graye, the stepdaughter of one of the most feared men in the Gotham City Police Department, Joel Irskens. He wasn’t going to be late, he couldn’t afford to be. Blindly, he’d accepted the job from Steven Santieri, not fully realizing what it all entailed. He’d just wanted to impress the guy who ran the show. But now, he was starting to realize just what it meant. He had to be around this girl as much as possible, without her knowing it. That was going to be difficult. Especially since he, being an idiot, hadn’t asked her stepfather for some kind of routine of hers, even if she had any. Joel for his part, hadn’t volunteered any information either.

Either Joel really trusted him, or Joel really thought that his daughter could handle herself. Regardless, if another scratch appeared on her, James would be the one to pay.

So he’d slept in his car, a beat up Chevy that had seen better years. He’d never bothered to trade it in or swap it out. Everything worked fine, and he worked on it on days when he wasn’t working. Which, when he thought about it, would probably be something that he’d never have again, at least for the short term.

Whatever.

Scalding his tongue on a cup of coffee, he watched her. He was parked a good distance away, but he could still see her from where he was. The coffee was shit, but it was corner stand coffee. Hit and miss, but always cheap. Cheap was good. Tearing off another packet of sugar, he dumped it into the light brownish looking liquid, hoping that the sweetness would take away from the horrible taste.

He was wrong.

Continuing to drink, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment. This wasn’t a hard assignment, but it wasn’t an easy one either. After all, anything could happen at any point in time. Short of being racially profiling, he didn’t know what he was looking for either. He could stop and check out every single Italian that he saw, but realistically what were the odds that one of them were going to do something? Or that Morricone, if he was actually targeting her, was going to use an Italian. If it were him, it would make more sense to contract out.

Get a Spic or someone to do the second round, to take the heat off you. Just hope that if it went south, the guy you hired had the decency to get himself killed or escape, otherwise he might rat on you just to get out himself.

Or atleast she hadn't found any trouble to get into, well she wasn't looking for it anyways.

Jennifer kept her gaze upon the paper in her left hand and the interesting article about the supposed ties that the Morricone's had with a manager at a casino shortly before his disappearance. Incidentally enough, there were two things that stood out two her that were odd, her Dad was the one who busted the man and the second was the man disappeared before he could even make it to trial.

Jennifer bypassed people as she kept reading the various points of the article, of course like any other "good" Gothamite, there was denial on the part of the Morricone's and the GCPD had zero evidence and no witnesses to back anything up they would try to accuse them of. Much like every written piece before, anything dealing with the Morricone's became a fictitious lie that either never saw it's way past the Editors desk or was dismissed as a political attempt by up and coming superstars in the DA's office.

It wasn't before long that Jennifer realized she had made a wrong turn or two and had ended up in the lower parts of Gotham. A sigh escaped her lips as she turned back around and began walking back, folding the paper up in her hands and placing it under her right arm. She wrapped her jacket about herself tighter, the chill of being under the concrete jungle hit hard, especially considering her more weaker state. It wasn't that the lower parts of Gotham were bad, they just weren't great, especially for someone like her. Cars were flying by a few dozen feet away as she continued to walk down the path, attempting to stay closer towards the busy streets than drift towards the darkened parts of the underpass.

Conroy had ditched the car a while back. He’d been following her on foot, and he knew exactly where she was, even if she didn’t. These had been the streets that he’d grown up on. James Conroy hadn’t grown up in the nicest part of town, and the place where he had grown up was actually a few blocks from where they were now. He had a lit cigarette in his mouth and he was a bit more than a half block away from her. While he didn’t smoke that often, it just seemed like one of those days. Also, it helped to blend in, so the growing nicotine addiction that he was dealing with actually worked in his favor. As he walked and followed her, he studied her from time to time.

City was a good frame for her face. Pretty thing. But he remembered what it had looked like the night that he’d met her, bashed in from the attempted kidnapping.

He was fairly sure that good ole Irskens wouldn’t have wanted his step daughter in this part of town, surrounded by people who fit the description that James himself had come from. Conroy had come come from a no parent household, having grown up in the foster system. They did what they could with what was given to them, and he couldn’t blame them for the trouble that he’d gotten into growing up. The Wayne Foundation and the Sommers Foundation could only do so much, and the Wayne Foundation had been on it’s last legs back when he had been growing up.

Wayne had died years ago, twenty five to be somewhat precise. For Conroy, who had been born the year afterwards, it had meant that the Wayne Foundation, funded through the profits of Wayne Enterprises had suffered a great deal. Sometimes it seemed like Bruce Wayne and all of his extensions had been the lifeblood that had helped the city move along. You couldn’t just remove the leader of a multi-billion dollar corporation, easily one of the biggest in the world, and not expect repercussions.

They walked past an old barbershop. James had hung out on the front step back in the day, playing stickball with some of the other neighborhood kids. He’d learned a lot on the streets of Gotham, they had a wealth of knowledge to teach. Knowledge you couldn’t learn in books. Lessons like looking out for street muggers.

Like the one who was getting ready to grab her purse.

His hand drifted down to the SIG Sauer P226 that he carried on him, as his eyes narrowed. The 9mm would have the stopping power that he’d need, but most of these street criminals could be stopped simply by pulling out the weapon itself. While his hand gripped the pistol, James watched as the mugger went into action. The man grabbed Jennifer’s purse and started to make a run for it. She turned, but she wasn’t fast enough, the man blending into the crowd somewhat. But James, who had been looking for the man, was able to track him.

Her shout alerted people, clearing a bit of a path. That gave her the chance to spot the guy running down an alley, so she gave chase, with James not too far behind.

Jennifer ran with such furiosity, it even surprised herself as her boots slapped the ground and pushed up puddles of murky water against the pale grey stone walls of the alleyway. She was barely winded as she cried out towards the mugger.

“Stop!”

Of course it was a futile attempt, why would he stop?

The man jerked left around a corner, sliding with the ease of someone who knew the streets well. Jennifer on the other hand wasn’t so lucky, she came around the corner, unable to really catch her momentum and shift it properly. Instead of sliding to an advantage, she slid into the wall with a bit of a harsh thud but bounced off immediately and continued her pursuit. With a grimace and a groan, she rushed down the alley, dodging protruding objects and dumpsters that had seen better days.

Yes, there was once a time where all of Gotham shined bright, but that was a long time ago, even in the days of Bruce Wayne they were cleaner than they are now.

As she ran further into the dark depths of Gotham, she realized that she lost track of the way she came, as well as her foe which she was pursuing. Jennifer growled low in her throat as she crouched low, silencing herself to an extent which she could hear the pattering of footsteps scurring away. Jennifer sighed heavily, standing in the cross-section of the darkened alley below the concrete jungle of Gotham.

“Well, that’s great…” She slapped her hands against her thighs and cried out a frustrated groan. She turned towards the way she came, only to stop short as the sound of running feet coming at her became apparent. Unarmed, recovering from previous injuries and truly unable to defend herself to the fullest should this enemy or enemies be armed, she fled.

Jennifer bolted down one of the alleyways as fast as she could, kicking over trashcans, avoiding tripping, even stumbling at times. Panic struck deep within her as the sounds of multiple pursuers began to echo against the walls. Maybe it was just one but the clashing and banging didn’t help any mental imaging in her mind.

Jennifer came to a dead-end, her hands touching the bricks at various points. The sound of the footsteps weren’t loud and at a furious pace anymore, instead they were cautious, almost predator like. She shifted slightly and without warning, the ground below her gave away. A trap door had opened and dropped her down into a slick tube that was mired with dust and cobwebs. Jennifer cried out, coughing and swatting at the air as she sped through the darkness towards an unknown fate and out of nowhere, the tube gaveway, causing her to hit the ground and tumble forward.

A loud thud echoed through the cavernous area as Jennifer lay on the ground, coughing and trying to catch her breath. The sounds of machines firing up, some for the first time in many years caught her attention; lights began flickering as the sound of distant generators began to whirl.
What had she gotten into now?

James let out a groan of frustration, as he stopped in one of the alleys that made up the seemingly endless network that was Gotham City. This wasn’t good. While he doubted that anything had happened to her, the point was that it was his job to keep an eye on her, something that he had just clearly failed at. Unsure of how he was going to tell this to her stepfather, he started the journey back out of the alleys. Walking back on to the main street, he stood there for a moment, silent, thinking to himself. What was the next step? Obviously, it would be telling her stepfather and Santieri.

Shit.

This had been his shot at getting into the Major Crimes Unit. He sighed as he leaned against a traffic light. No, no, no, he refused to accept that that bridge had been burned. He’d seen her fight. That common street robber, she could handle something like that easily. He didn’t doubt that. Realistically, he did doubt that anything would happen to her, which is why he wasn’t continuing to look for her. The area wasn’t the greatest, and he knew it pretty well, but she had been moving pretty fast.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have her cell phone number. Otherwise he would have started to call it. That would have been the smart thing to do. Either she would have answered or he would have known that the purse snatcher still had her purse. As a delivery truck for Darsk Consolidated rumbled by, he pulled his own cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the MCU.

“Hey, Hi, uh, this is Officer James Conroy. I need a number look up and then a phone trace.” He said.

“So why are you calling the MCU?” The voice on the other end of the line replied, sounding annoyed.

“Well, probably because I was tasked this job by Steven Santieri, and the phone number in question belongs to Joel Irskens’ daughter.” He said, and let those nuggets of information sink in.

“Hold on one moment.” The voice said and then it was quickly replaced with a voice that he did recognize.

“What in the fuck happened?”

Shit. Shit.

“I can totally explain.”

“You had one job, Conroy.” Santieri said. “One job to do, what the hell happened?”

He quickly filled the man in on the day’s events.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

She'd fallen quite a bit. But the motion had activated something that had been dormant for about twenty five years. Computer screens lit up, but they were old, many of them partially covered in dust. Black backgrounds appeared, with a purplish text that still managed to burn through the screen. All of the five screens had the same content on display. A singular keyboard was visible, with a built in mouse ball. Old school tech, but it would have been considered old by today's standards. Maybe six or seven years back from where computers and technology was today. The amount of dust and decay that was prevalent in the room gave credence to any theory that suggested that the set up had been established at least more than a decade prior.

"Password?" She groaned softly and brushed the dust off the old computer screen, staring at it hard as if the password would suddenly appear before her and enter itself in. She attempted to type in some gibberish that came to mind.

-Gotham1- She hammered away at the raised keyboard, waiting for the slow computer to respond with an anxious grin.

"Incorrect" a stoic computer voice chimed at her, she growled and slammed her fists against the terminal. "I don't know the password!" There was a flicker on the screen as her hit reverberated through the terminal causing it to glitch, the system seemed to shut off for a second and come back on suddenly. The screen chimed and the stoic voice returned. "Welcome Batman."

"Holy shit..." Jennifer said with amazement as the room began to light up, the sound of engines coming on after a decade filled the air, plumes of dust and ash flew towards the ceiling as a large cylinder rose from the center of the room. There was a groaning hiss as doors slid open and lights within flickered on, a few popped as the electricity passed through them for the first time in ages. Jennifer calmly approached the massive entrance which led to the arsenal and the bike which was resting on it's side on the vehicle pad.

"Now, I wasn't expecting all of this..." She said with a huge grin on her face. "I wonder what I can do with some of this stuff..." She said as she approached some of the gadgets adorned in the holders. "That is, if any of it still works..." A hand reached out and grabbed a Batarang, her eyes gazing over the slightly rusted material. "Probably just needs some fine tuning..."

IC:
“What in the fuck is going on.” Supreme said, throwing a man into a wall. He was in a warehouse, one of the ones that he owned, in Colgate Heights. After having just found out from Steven Santieri and Joel Irskens that one of his gun trucks had been hit on its journey through Bludhaven, he was pissed.

“It’s not a good look.” A new voice said, and Supreme turned, breathing heavily. He grimaced and shook his head.

“Listen, Roberts, what the fuck do you want?” He asked.

Richard Roberts smiled, showing a set of pearly white teeth that stood out when framed by his dark face. “You got problems, Supreme. None of these boys respect you anymore. You can’t keep a gun truck safe, and this is the third this year that you’ve lost.” He said and shook his head. “That’s a shame, man. That’s what, over three million dollars that you’ve lost. Explaining that shit to the suppliers, it’s easy, but taking that loss on the books? You’d need Santieri’s bitch in order to make it all go away.”

“Fuck is you trying to say?” Supreme asked.

“I’m saying you’re done.” Roberts said. He was a big man, dressed in a black pin stripe suit. He had a blood red tie on, and a big fur overcoat. He carried an umbrella to ward off the rain that had started after Santieri had left.

For his size, Roberts moved very quickly. He had Supreme in a vise grip, his fingers digging into the man’s skull. The pain for Supreme was unbearable, his eyes flitting back and forth as he was crushed to death. It only took a few moments, and everyone in the room stayed still. They knew what was happening. Supreme’s dead body was discarded, tossed to the ground.

“Tell the boys they work for me now.” Roberts said.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Roberts, the new boss of Colgate Heights, was outside of the warehouse by Lucky’s Diner, smoking a cigar, holding his umbrella up against the rain. He was a self made man, having come up on the block as a young kid. The things that he’d done to survive would have shocked many. He lived by a code, the same way that Supreme had, and he had long flourished thanks to that code. There was a change coming around Gotham, and Roberts had been studying it for quite some time. First and foremost, Richard Roberts was a student, and he had learned from the greatest. Watching how the previous crime families had conducted their business was a blessing. Not just the Vitale family, but Maroni and Falcone as well.

That wasn’t to say that they were the only ones that he had learned from either. The carnival of freaks that Batman had fought, were not always given the credit that they deserved. Most of them had been able to run extensive criminal empires.

He took a long pull from the cigar, and let his head fall back a bit, blowing the smoke out into the air.

“That went better than expected.” One of his men said, and Roberts nodded with a smile.

“That it did.” He said. “Make sure the proper people receive the word. There’s going to be blowback for this.”

“It’s manageable though. It’s been a while since we’ve talked about the reinvention of the Heights.” The man said, and pulled out a cigar of his own.

“You know, that’s very true. The plan is in motion, and we’re slowly taking over. One day, we’ll show them how to live life correctly.” Roberts said. “Until then, we need to be the one the streets fear. I can’t do that as Richard Roberts. This is a problem that I have been…wrestling with for some time.” He said, as rain fell down on the umbrella. “I need a new name.” He said. “One that comes from history, one that these fools will respect.”

“I’m not sure what you could use.” The man said. “There doesn’t seem to be a suitable option.” He added with a shrug.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Marcus. There is. One man who embodies a lot of what I want to be, a lot of what I see in myself. A vision that I can bring to the rest of the people of Gotham. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, like I said.”

“What’s the name?” The man asked, as a sleek, black Maybach pulled up for Roberts to get into.

The Brazilian woman reached up, removing her reading glasses and rubbing the bridge of her nose. She was quite exhausted and writing computer code took time, a lot of time. These tasks that Eva was doing for Wayne Enteprises, were starting to get repetitious and she wanted to figure out what the end game was. While she knew what she was working on and she knew what others in her division were working on as well, she couldn’t see yet where all the pieces fit together. Her job was to find backdoors into various computer defense networks around the globe. In turn, Wayne Enterprises used the knowledge to create software packages for those same organizations.

Cyber terrorism was a big thing these days, and as someone who had a lot of experience being something of a black hat, Eva could appreciate the fact that she was now a white hat. At the same time however, some of her fellow employees were working on retail level programs, and some of that didn’t make sense to her.

Why would the average person need the same level of defenses that a governmental organization in the UK need? Of course, Eva understood that safety was something that people would pay in droves for, but she also realized that overkill wasn’t going to solve people’s problems. Still, it paid the bills, and that was what was important to her. If someone in Kentucky or North Dakota or Canada wanted a WayneSoft product that would guarantee virtually no intrusion from hackers in China or North Korea, then hey, that was what she would give them.

Looking up at the top right hand corner of her screen, she mentally made a note that she was going to owe Steven money in the Monopoly game that they had going on with between the two of them and his mother. He’d made a bet that he would get out of work today before she did, and she’d foolishly taken him up on it. Damn man was a good detective, and apparently, he actually listened to her when she talked. Imagine that a man who listened. He’d been paying attention when she’d talked about how far behind everyone was on their deadlines.

That was cheating. And she would get him back for that.

The fact that he’d known because he did truly listen to her though brought a smile to her face.

A smile that was quickly wiped off her face, when a few people started rising from their computer terminals around the room. The reason why she didn’t, was because she was still reading the words that were scrolling across her screen. Everyone in the room was tapped into Wayne Enterprises’ server database, and everyone had access, according to their specific levels. Everyone was getting kicked out, but Eva had high level administrator privileges. So while everyone else was jumping up and complaining about losing work, she was seeing the fact that there was an alert, because someone or someones had broken into Wayne Enterprises and were trying to access the database.

She was dialing Steven from the phone application she’d programmed into the computer.

“Sheriff, you better get your ass over here, honey.” She said, as the phone sent her to voicemail. “Wayne Enterprises is getting robbed.”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“Eva, what’s going on?”

She was running through one of the hallways, towards where the main server system was. Her computer had high level privileges, but it didn’t have direct access to the mainframe. There were only a few nodes that had that access, and Eva was going to make sure that she shut down these would be attackers.

“I’ll tell you later.” She said over her shoulder to the colleague who was already far behind her.

Coming into the room, she looked around for the administrator on duty. “Nigel, how bad is it?” She asked.

“We don’t know just yet.” Nigel said. “All we know is that there was a spike placed in the system. On top of that, we have a physical break in.” He said and pointed up.

Turning, Eva saw the grid blueprint of the building, along with a few upside down triangles that indicated that they had unwelcome visitors in the building.

“Security details are en route, but we have to shut the spike down as soon as possible. We were going to call you.” He said, and then threw her a wireless keyboard.

Grabbing it, Eva started typing in her login, and saw a holographic screen near her light up. Walking over, she finished the login in and then went to work. It was going to be a mess, she saw, as the spike was working its way through the system at an alarming rate. Who had this kind of technology? This was beyond China or North Korea, or anything she’d ever seen. They didn’t even know what the spike was searching for, it was going through everything.

“Wait, what’s that?” Someone said, and she looked up. There was a motion sensor that had gone off in one of the quadrants.

Her fingers continued to fly over the keyboard, as Eva tried to narrow down just what the data spike had been after. That was what these people were here for, and she wanted to figure out just what it was that they had come for. The data spike had shifted its attack and was simply trying to cover it’s tracks. But whoever had programmed it had made it very sloppy. To the average person they would be hard pressed to see what was going on. To even the average computer programmer, well, no…to some of the best in the world, this would have been a finesse attack.

But for Eva Rodriguez, it was sloppy. Her eyes narrowed as she looked over the holographic display, her mind trying to see just what was going on. She was already deep in the code, combing through the servers. There was another program that was working on the same thing that she was, but it looked as if it had originated from the servers themselves. The program appeared to be similar to a safeguard program, though the security around it was rather peculiar.

Peculiar since it was above her security level of access. She had high-level administrator access, and there were only a handful of people who had a higher level than she did. Some department and division heads had lower access levels than she did, reinforcing the fact that she was highly valued within the company. Her own search results weren’t pulling up much information, outside of the fact that the firewall had been severely compromised and setting everything back up was going to take some time.

She paused as Nigel came and looked over her shoulder.

“Wow, this was a beautiful attack.” He said. “It’s almost completely clean.” He added, looking at her.

“Almost. We need to figure out which system processes we have to dump. Get your team working on that. I’m rerouting some of the more stable data sections to the other cores, to keep them safe.” She said. “It looks like the spike got what it wanted, and if we can shut down the access points, we can stop any transmissions outward.”

“If it gets out, can we track it?” Nigel asked.

She frowned. “I’d like to think so, but I have no idea where the data dump is headed. We could figure out where it’s going, but not fast enough to stop any transfers.” Eva said. Shaking her head, she adjusted her glasses and looked back at the display. This was a clear and tacit example of what her division was working on and why it was so necessary.

Eva still wasn’t sure why Batman was here. He had to have more information about the situation than she did, that was sure. But the speed with which he had shown up belied some potentially extra information. It was a bit suspicious, but she didn’t know what he had been working on prior to this. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the time to dedicate to figuring all of that out. There were decidedly more pressing matters for her to work on.

Everyone had decided to stay and keep working. No one had opted to go home, instead deciding that it was worth it more to stay and try to figure out what had happened to the company that they worked for. Wayne higher ups had been there, and had offered to let people take some time off, since they had been present during a violent break in. Those who were off shift had been called in just in case, and now the parts of Wayne Enterprises that weren’t sealed off as crime scenes were packed with people, mainly computer people, to figure out the extent of the cyber damage. Cyber attacks weren’t anything new, especially not in the modern world, but this had been a physical attack as well. Corporate espionage didn’t usually include bullets and burly men trained in hand to hand fighting.

Eva had seen a few members of the Wayne legal team as well, and one of the lawyers from Mayer, Ingram, and Rogers. Miranda Vesper, she thought had been the woman’s name, but she couldn’t remember at the moment. She was trying to break through a level of encryption in the system that hadn’t existed a day prior. Whoever these interlopers were, they had added it themselves, and they had done it to protect something. It was a section of the company that dealt with various corporate secrets that the company didn’t even normally use on a day to day basis. Meaning to say, this was data that it was possible only Isaiah Muir or Britney Harmon had access to, the owner of the company and the CEO.

The ramifications were incredible to consider.

She looked up over her screen at the big displays that had changed what they had shown before, the computer coding of the servers. Now they displayed a running loop of the news, which was live broadcasting Isaiah Muir giving a statement to the media from inside of Wayne Enterprises, something that was happening maybe less than fifty yards from her. Eva could see the side of her head. It was a little weird to say the least. Was this how people working in television news felt all the time? That sense of being watched, all the time?

There were other things on her mind, so she pushed the stream of consciousness like thoughts away. Eva had to figure out a bunch of different things, but tugging at the back of her head was something else. Something that was part of what had happened, and linked back to something that Isaiah had said to her some time ago, when he had been asking her about Journeyman. He’d said that Batman was better than the GCPD. It was something that didn’t sit well with her, considering the man’s who ring was on her finger. But there was something else about what he had said.

Batman had gotten to Wayne Enterprises faster than the cops. The closest police precinct was not that far away from Wayne Enterprises. The Major Crimes Unit building was only a little bit farther away than the precinct building. But Batman had beaten all of them, incredibly though it was hard to believe.

Soon she was manipulating a map of Gotham City.

Depending on where Batman had been at the time, none of it made sense to her. Quickly, she created a perimeter around Wayne Enterprises, with the police precinct as a dot on the perimeter. Then she did a quick search of any Batman sightings in the area, or police reports or any crimes. Frowning, she refreshed the data, making sure that the computer’s display was giving her the correct information.

There had been no crimes reported or reported as stopped in the area last night. This meant that Batman, from all reportable data, had been farther away than the closest police, but somehow, his response time had been better than that of the cops. There was no explanation for it….unless….unless he had inside information on what was going on at Wayne Enterprises. The only way he could have that was if he was plugged into the system itself.

“How’s everything coming?”

She turned at the voice, and saw Isaiah Muir standing behind her, his eyes looking at her computer screen, and seemingly studying what she was doing, his eyes an impenetrable mask of sorts.

“Everything’s fine.” She said, and then her mind went blank. What was she supposed to tell him? “I’m trying…to figure out something about last night.” She said.

“What, in particular?” Isaiah asked.

“Well, there were no reports of any crime in the area before the incident here, which seems peculiar.” She said.

“Why is that?” He asked, with a slightly quizzical look on his face. “This is downtown Gotham City, Ms. Rodriguez. It’s a lot better than most parts of Gotham City.” He added, with a small smile.

Which reinforces the idea that police in this precinct would have been able to respond more quickly. She thought.

“It was just something that I thought of. I should probably get back to the servers.” She said.

He nodded. “I’d leave that kind of inquiry to your fiancé. From what I understand, he’s very upset over the injuries that some of the employees suffered.” Isaiah said, and walked away, after giving her one of those trademarked Isaiah Muir smiles.

Looking back at her computer terminal, she wasn’t too convinced. But there were subroutines that she was going to implement. Somehow, someway, Eva was going to get to the bottom of this.

Her head was very groggy. Still very groggy. It had been some time since Nicole had been admitted to Gotham General, but there was still something wrong with her. The injuries she’d sustained during the attack on Wayne Enterprises should have been all she dealt with, but that wasn’t the case. Something was wrong with her. A shelf of various chemicals had fallen on her during the attack, while she had been trying to defend herself from the armed robbers. She wasn’t in as much pain anymore. Those wounds had healed quickly. The problem now was that there was some kind of physiological change going on in her body and it was baffling her doctors.

Something was wrong with her but no one knew what it was.

Wayne Enterprises was covering the now extended hospital stay. Nicole was quite grateful for that, because otherwise she wasn’t sure how she would have been able to pay for any of this. The cost had to be expensive. Medicine wasn't specifically her field of study, even if botany and biomedical research had a lot to do with it. The practical side was something else entirely. There were a number of machines all monitoring her vital signs. She was a botanist, one of the best. But this, the field of medicine, was not her strong suit. Here she was like everyone else. None of her knowledge could help her in this place, in this predicament. It made her feel helpless.

Hopeless.

Nicole’s eyes opened as the door to her room opened. The newspaper she had been reading slid further down on the bed. She'd been deep into the paper, with nothing else to read. There had been a short article in the business section on Isaiah and Wayne Enterprises purchasing some Big River restaurant out in Oregon or something. Small River? Red River? All of that went away when she saw who her visitor was. A wan smile came over her face. “What are you doing here?” She asked. “Please don’t tell me you came here just to see me.”

“No, of course not.” Isaiah said, coming to the foot of her bed, reaching out and grabbing one of her feet through the blanket, shaking it lightly. “I came for the food. Gotham General is famous for its food.” He said. “How are you feeling?”

“How do you think I’m feeling?” Nicole asked. “I feel like shit.” She watched as Isaiah took the clipboard out of its holder, reading over the comments the doctors had made as well as some of her past vital spot checks. “Do you even understand the words on the paper?” She asked, injecting some humor into her voice, or at least trying to.

He rolled his eyes. “How hard can it be? I mean, I know things.” Isaiah said, his eyes flitting over the paper at a speed she wasn’t sure she’d seen anyone else use when reading. There was a brief moment where he didn’t look like he normally did. The look on his face was different, vastly different than the one he normally wore. Foreign to her, Nicole watched as it shifted away from his face. It wouldn’t have been noticeable except all she had to look at was his face.

“Sure, you know things.” Nicole replied.

“I’m just making sure you’re not skipping out on work. Trying to get worker’s compensation or something like that. You have to be careful in this day and age, and every penny counts, you know.”

“Do you do this for all your employees that end up in the hospital?”

“Only the attractive ones.” Isaiah said, replacing the clipboard.

“Did we ever find out who those people were and what they were after?” She asked.

“From what the police have told me, they were there on some kind of corporate espionage mission. I don’t even know what they were trying to take or what they were trying to do, to be honest. Eva Rodriguez is still going through some of the files to confirm the extent of the breach. It’s actually been an eye opener regarding file organization on the servers.” He said.

“So it was just corporate espionage, really?” Nicole asked, closing her eyes. “Isaiah, people…people lost their lives in that attack. It was all over money.”

He nodded slowly. “That’s usually what most crime is about.” He said. “People are desperate and in that desperation they do things they shouldn’t.” He added, as his cellphone buzzed. Pulling it out, he looked at the text message. “I’m sorry, Nicole, I have to head out. I have a meeting with the Mayor. There’s going to be some kind of announcement today, and his office has asked me to attend.”

He came over and took her hand. “Don’t worry about the attack. That’s my job. All you’re supposed to do is get better now. Understand me?” Isaiah asked.

She aimed for a smile, knowing she missed the mark. “Sure thing Boss.”

“Exactly.” He said, dropping her hand and heading for the door. “I’m the boss, don’t forget it.” Isaiah paused at the door, sending her a flirtatious smile. “I haven’t gotten that dance yet.” He added, before heading out.

Eva walked through the hallways of the executive floor of Wayne Enterprises, purpose with every stride in her step. She had a leather bound portfolio in her arm, and her heels clicked against the tile floor. Walking into the board room of Wayne Enterprises, there were only two other people in the room. Britney Harmon, the CEO of the conglomerate, and Isaiah Muir, the final word on anything and everything that had to do with the company. Britney looked up at Eva as the other woman walked into the room.

“Hey, good to see you.” She said and Eva nodded, taking a seat.

Isaiah was looking at his phone, seemingly disinterested. He could have been playing a game on it for all she knew. Locking it, he tossed it on to the table. “What did they take?” He asked.

“We’re still not one hundred percent sure. But we know where they were looking, which is a step in the right direction. They were rooting around in Applied Sciences.” She said and Isaiah turned and gave Britney a look. It went beyond mild interest, but it wasn’t enough to make Eva think he was that concerned still. “I don’t think this was your generic corporate raiding though.” She said, and Britney raised an eyebrow.

The CEO raised her hand slightly in the air as she leaned back in her chair. “Why’s that?” She asked.

“They weren’t going after what we’re currently working on.” Eva said and that really grabbed Isaiah’s interest.

He turned back towards her and Eva could tell that now he was definitely interested. “What were they after in Applied Sciences?” He asked.

“Older files, from years ago. Decades actually. We were able to sequester a lot of the data, and we’re still going through all of what they were after, but there’s a lot. The spike was sloppy for a reason. They were trying to create a lot of collateral damage, a lot of folders that looked like they were being touched when in reality they weren’t. At the time, I thought the spike was poorly coded, but it turns out it was quite genius.” She said.

Isaiah nodded, steepling his fingers together as he thought about the situation. “I surmise that we’re not going to be able to figure out what they were after for some time. In a sense, we could already know, but due to the other files and folders attacked, we don’t know what the actual target was. Disinformation in a sense.” He said and she nodded. “Well, how long is the list of things that they did touch?” He asked.

Eva looked down at her portfolio, scrolling through her tablet. “It’s roughly eight hundred and seventy-eight individual folders. The files in each folder range from one to twenty.” She said. “That’s a total possible of-“

“Seventeen thousand, three hundred and seventy individual files.” Isaiah said, interrupting. “How long would it take you to break this all down and make a list on probability of what you think they were after?” He asked.

“We’re building an algorithm right now that will go through the list.” She said.

“Okay.” Isaiah said. He paused then. “Do you have a listing based off of what time the files were accessed?” He asked, suddenly. Eva nodded and he smiled. “Now, I know that there would be milliseconds of difference probably on access times. But I’d like that information if possible.” He added and she nodded again. “Thank you.”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

With a stir, Nicole shifted in her bed. She was still in the hospital, and turning her head to the right, she saw that her nurse had brought her lunch. Lifting up the cover on the tray, Nicole surveyed the food being proffered to her today. Nothing seemed that appealing, so she put the cover back on the tray. Nicole turned to the left and her eyes narrowed. There was a small folded card on the table to her left. It looked like a get well card, one of a few she’d received from coworkers and from her family.